8 Background: Hip-Hop Culture in and out the classroom

A multitude of cultures have been used in and out of the classroom and have shown to be very effective teaching strategies ¹⁴. Implementing relevant and relatable concepts of the public and incorporating storytelling within and out of the classroom, has addressed the possibility of reconsidering how current STEAM material is taught.

For example, pop culture themes and socially relevant topics have been shown to be an effective strategy for engaging students ¹⁵. Also, teaching chemistry through art, cooking, and other creative approaches is starting to be utilized both in academic and public spaces. Hip-hop culture has specifically been used as a kind of pedagogy to engage the PEERs community ¹⁶.

Previously in the classroom setting, hip-hop pedagogy has been explored to introduce a variety of STEM topics such as using hip-hop “cyphers” to learn science topics ¹⁴. These cyphers are executed by having students present either a freestyled or rehearsed rap about a specific topic and present it amongst their peers. Outside of the classroom, the use of creating and presenting raps and songs to memorize scientific concepts has been presented by science communicators such as Raven the Science Maven and Hip Hop MD.